NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO PANIC
by Wilson, Kevin
- Used
- Fine
- Hardcover
- Signed
- first
- Condition
- Fine/Fine
- Seller
-
Grottoes, Virginia, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Ecco, 2022. SIGNED BY AUTHOR on title page. First Edition/First Printing. Fine condition. Brodart protected, ships in a box.. Signed by Author. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine.
Reviews
On Dec 15 2022, a reader said:
4.5★s
"I had wanted people to care, to notice, but I hadn't wanted them to put their own hands all over it, to try to claim it. But how do you stop something like that? You just tried to make more of it so you didn't lose your claim to what was inside of you."
Now Is Not The Time To Panic is the fourth novel by award-winning American author, Kevin Wilson. It's a phone call from a stranger that casts Frances Budge's mind back twenty years. Mazzy Brower is an art critic, writing about the Coalfield Panic of 1996, and she's convinced that Frankie Budge started it. She'd be right, but does Frances want to talk about it?
Back during the summer vacation of '96, Frankie was sixteen, her mom was working, her triplet brothers flipping burgers at fast-food places, and her dad long gone, in Milwaukee with a new family. She was bored and a bit lonely. And so was Zeke, new in town from Memphis, his mom catatonic with grief over her cheating husband.
An aspiring novelist (Frankie), an aspiring artist (Zeke), a stolen photocopier, lots of paper and toner, and an idea: what could go wrong?
Their poster had an enigmatic slogan (The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us) surrounded by some strange illustrations. They made copies, lots of copies, and put them up around town. And they made a solemn vow to tell no-one that they were the ones who made it.
The reaction initially pleased them, but the analysis of the meaning, that was a bit upsetting: "I kind of wanted other people to not understand it in ways that they assumed a really cool artist had made it. I didn't want them to not understand it in a way that they think we're devil worshippers who abduct kids."
And then, in that pre-internet-as-we-know-it-now world, it went viral. It spawned copy-cats and a weird and dangerous dad militia, The Poster Posse. Violence, lives lost, none of that was what they wanted. But at sixteen, they too naïve to realise that once you release something into the world, you lose all control over it.
They never did tell anyone, so how does Mazzy Brower know? And if she tells the world, then what?
Wilson paints a vivid picture of how a single piece of American pop culture, a culture-altering poster, can expand into a phenomenon and cause mass hysteria. His characters are appealing for all their very realistic flaws; some of their seemingly inexplicable choices can be attributed to their tender ages but they can't fail to elicit the reader's empathy. Funny and thought-provoking, this is a marvellous coming-of-age tale.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Text Publishing.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Catch and Release Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 006106
- Title
- NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO PANIC
- Author
- Wilson, Kevin
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Fine
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Edition
- Publisher
- Ecco
- Date Published
- 2022
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
Terms of Sale
Catch and Release Books
full refund of purchase price within 14 days of receipt
About the Seller
Catch and Release Books
Biblio member since 2008
Grottoes, Virginia
About Catch and Release Books
Hunter S Thompson/beatsPolitics/governmentmodern first editionsnon-fiction first editionsigned first editionfishing
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Title Page
- A page at the front of a book which may contain the title of the book, any subtitles, the authors, contributors, editors, the...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Brodart
- Generally used to refer to a clear plastic cover that is sometimes added to the dustjacket or outside covering of a book. The...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...